"We named our company after the Wavertree, which is a historic iron-hulled sailing ship built in 1885. If you notice our shelves all have a boat shape to them, an understated nod to their nautical roots.”

Paying homage to midcentury design, coastal living and a love of fine woodwork, husband and wife team Lee and Olivia build quirky, minimalist shelving in rounded teardrop shapes. As collectors of small objects and knickknacks, the duo is very familiar with the desire to showcase these treasures. Their bentwood shelves start with hand-selected cedar pieces, which are then steamed, bent and hardened into their signature droplet shapes. Depending on the design, they’re fitted with one or more shelves with dividers and topped with a rope loop for hanging. The sturdy shelves can hold anything you tend to accumulate, whether your thing is collecting photo frames, ceramic cats or desert plants.

Olivia & Lee - Co-Founders of The Wavertree Co.

We hand-make all of our bentwood shelves in our woodworking shop, located in a 1700’s barn near the coast of Maine. Our work is full of brainstorming and dreaming. We have spent a long time designing our products so they are aesthetically pleasing while still being functional, we really love when form and function can come together and be happy (especially when we’re the ones creating the form). Our inspiration comes from earlier Scandinavian designers, mostly from the 1950’s-1960’s, as well as traditional shaker styles of New England. We’ve had a lot of influence from our families as well, both of us have craftsmen and craftswomen as parents. Our goal is to bring an element of design into any space, the organic lines of our shelves add interest and help to transform basic living areas into artful rooms.